For your listening pleasure, our music students and teachers have created a virtual compilation of some of the best of Queen.

Musicians are inherently social creatures and therefore it is no surprise that the lockdown has driven our band members to seek out new and creative ways to continue their connection and collaboration. Teachers and students have been honing new skills such as playing (and miming) to a click track, audio editing, video editing and co-ordinating online band rehearsals to make this multitrack video. It has been a fun learning curve for all and certainly kept spirits and motivation high whilst we are all keeping NZ safe with our distancing.

In this video, we have some members of the Nayland College concert band playing 'Best of Queen,' arranged by Paul Murtha. We thought this would be particularly appropriate after being inspired by similar videos posted across the globe showing musicians uniting despite adversity. Those featured in the video include Josie Batt (Flute), Freya Moffat (Alto Sax), Russell Sarginson (Trumpet), Felix Cuff (Trumpet), Vaughn Birss (Cornet), Natania Ngawhau (Trombone), Mr Walker (Alto Sax) and our very own Brian May, Miss Mackenzie (Conductor). The band will be scouting for a regular drum kit player to join when we return to school, as an adult helper was drafted in to fill that part out for us.

As a first attempt to put something like this together we are pleased with how it turned out and we hope it makes the NayCol community smile. It is hard to balance and tune an ensemble when playing in isolation, however the co-ordination and accuracy of playing with a click track has still allowed us to make the most of our time apart. We are all now looking forward to getting back to school and rehearsing in real-time.